Patent 10140895 was granted and assigned to Walmart on November, 2018 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A task-indicating shelf that includes a supporting surface for supporting one or more physical objects and one or more visual indicators associated with the shelf and indicative of a task to be performed with respect to the one or more physical objects is described. The task-indicating shelf includes a docking station electrically coupled to the one or more visual indicators and configured to receive a handheld device. Docking the handheld device within the docking station powers an electric circuit between the handheld device and the one or more visual indicators to selectively energize or de-energize the one or more visual indicators.